https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1i2.018
When the Goddess Menstruates: Exception versus Exclusion in the Thrippooth Festival of Chengannur Mahadeva Temple
Haritha H. Venkitesh
Research Scholar
Department of English and Comparative Literature
Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod
Dr. Soumya Murukesh
Assistant Professor of English
Department of International Relations
Central University of Kerala, Capital Centre, Thiruvananthapuram
Abstract: Chengannur Mahadeva Temple and the menstrual festival of Thrippooth hold a significant place in the discussion of menstruation. Thrippooth is a three-day celebration of the menstruation of the Goddess, Parvathy. Unlike the Kamakhya temple in Assam, which is a tantric centre where the Ambubachi mela (or annual menstruation festival) is observed, the worship system at the Chengannur temple blends Brahminic, Tantric, and Buddhist styles, making Thrippooth more theologically unique and sociologically complex. The Vedic tradition in Hinduism identifies rajasraava or body fluids as a contaminant, while the Shakta Tantric denomination treats menstruation and female genitalia with divine significance.
Centring on Chengannur Bhagavathy’s Thrippooth celebration, the study frames this ritual tradition as a cultural performance in which the Goddess is relocated to a separate place during menstruation. Studying this spatial shift during the performance (of the thrippooth), the study attempts to enquire whether this relocation of ritual space is an exception (an exception in the recognition of bodily needs during menstruation) or an exclusion (a denial of access, as she was deemed unfit for public visibility during menstruation). Primary data are collected through ethnographic methods, including field visits, participant observation, and interviews. The apparently contradictory theoretical positions of Foucault’s Heterotopia and Julia Kristeva’s Theory of Abjection will be used in the study. Therefore, synthesising the ethnographic data and theoretical focal points, the study asks: Is the ritualised relocation of the Goddess during the Thrippooth festival an ‘exception’ in recognition of the biological reality of menstruation, or is it a form of spatial ‘exclusion’ that reinforces the association of impurity with menstruating bodies?
Keywords: Thrippooth, Menstrual Rituals, Heterotopia, Abjection, Sacred Spatiality
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